Stephen H. Lamb
Blog 8: Revolutionary
Guerrilla War in Colombia
One of the most prominent cases of
political violence in the American continent is the case of Colombia. Colombia
has been notorious for being home to various groups that utilize political
violence. The most prominent and powerful of these groups is the Armed
Revolutionary Forces of Colombia or “FARC”.
The FARC started as small
communities of communists that formed after a large internal conflict for
government control in 1964 and have been using political violence ever since (Profiles: Colombia's Armed Groups 2012) . The FARC
claim to be a revolutionary group with the political goal of changing the
Colombian government to a socialist state. This group consists of about 16,000
soldiers and claims the support of the population (Profiles: Colombia's Armed Groups 2012) . There are
many governments that have defined this group as terrorist while a few others have
refused to define them as such (Tormenta politica ante posible
decloratoria de conflicto 2011) . In order to
understand what type of political violence is being utilized a few instances of
force used by the FARC will be given along with a comparative analysis of
definitions given by David J. Samuels in his book, “Comparative Politics.”
Examples of Political Violence
One instance of use of political
violence by the FARC occurred on the 12th of August 2010. A member
of FARC parked a vehicle in front of a building that contained offices for
Caracol Radio. This radio station spoke against the FARC cause and in favor of
the government. After walking away from the vehicle the FARC agent detonated 50
kilograms of ammonium nitrate and a gas cylinder via cellular phone. This
incident left 43 people injured but none dead (Minuto a minuto del atentado en Bogota 2010) .
Another instance of political
violence used by the FARC occurred on the 2nd of May 2002 has been
named the “Massacre of Bojaya.” In this case members of the FARC threw pipe
bombs into a church during services. This act killed somewhere between 74 and
119 people and injured 98 people. Many of those killed in the attack were
children (Cifuentes 2002) .
Definitions
In order to understand how to
define the political violence utilized by the FARC we will consider the
definitions of David Samuels in his book, “Comparative Politics.” The different
varieties and definitions are listed below:
Civil War: Armed
combat within the boundaries of a sovereign state between parties that are
subject to common authority at the start of hostilities.
Revolution: Armed
conflict within a sovereign state between insurgents and the state, in which
both the insurgents and the state claim the allegiance of a significant
proportion of the population authority over the state is forcibly transferred
from the state to the insurgents, and the insurgents subsequently bring about
wholesale political change.
Guerilla War: War
in which small groups of insurgents us irregular military tactics, such as
sabotage and ambushes, to engage the state’s military forces. (Terrorism may be
a result of this kind of warfare.)
-
Terrorism: Threatened or actual use of violence
for political purposes by non-state actors, directed particularly against
civilian targets.
Analysis
Revolution
The definition of revolution given
by Samuels is the most fitting definition of political violence in the case of
the FARC in Colombia. This definition contains three parameters that are
fitting to the situation of the FARC. The first is that both parties must claim
the support of the population. The FARC and the government both claim to
represent the people of Colombia. The next two parameters are that authority
must be transferred by force and that change must happen afterward. These last
two parameters have not yet happened but are the current political goals of the
FARC. Although the definition of revolution fits very well with the case of the
FARC in Colombia, the definition of guerilla war given by Samuels also has some
aspects that fit very well in this case.
Guerilla War
The case of the FARC in Colombia
might also be defined as a guerilla war. According the Samuel’s definition a
guerilla war must be fought by a, “small group of insurgents [that] use
irregular military tactics.” The FARC uses irregular tactics such as ambushes
and assassinations to fight against the government, however, their force of 16,000
is not a very small. Because of this shortcoming this definition does not
completely fit the case of the FARC.
One thing that may also define
guerilla warfare is the use of terrorism. This seems to be a very fitting for
the FARC. They threaten to use or actually use violence against civilians for
political purposes. This is seen in the aforementioned attack on Caracol Radio
and the “Massacre of Bojaya.”
Conclusion
Of the aforementioned definitions,
that of revolution is the most fitting to the situation of the FARC. Although
the definition for revolution is very fitting, the case also more loosely fits
the definition of guerilla war provided by Samuel. This shows the greatest
shortcoming of Samuel’s definitions, that they are very closely interrelated. With
such closely related definitions for types of political conflict it seems logical
that some definitions should be integrated to better describe situations that
include characteristics from various definitions. For the case of the FARC there
could be an integrated definition that includes both revolution and guerrilla
war seeing as these two types of political violence are often associated.
Perhaps it could be called a revolutionary guerilla war.
Works Cited
Cifuentes,
Eduardo Munoz. "RESOLUCIÓN DEFENSORIAL HUMANITARIA No. 012." Defensoria.
May 25, 2002.
http://www.defensoria.org.co/red/anexos/pdf/02/res/humanitaria/humanitaria12.pdf
(accessed November 7, 2012).
"Minuto
a minuto del atentado en Bogota." El Espectador. August 12, 2010.
http://www.elespectador.com/articulo-218722-minuto-minuto-del-atentado-bogota
(accessed November 7, 2012).
"Profiles:
Colombia's Armed Groups." BBC News. August 28, 2012.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11400950 (accessed November 7,
2012).
Samuels,
David J. Comparative Politics. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2013.
"Tormenta
politica ante posible decloratoria de conflicto." El Pais. May 4,
2011.
http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/colombia/presidente-santos-reconoce-en-colombia-hay-conflicto-armado
(accessed November 7, 2012).
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